WB SETS FUNDING FOR BEIRUT BLAST RECOVERY

The World Bank Group said on Wednesday it stands ready to assess Lebanon’s damage and needs after a devastating Beirut port explosion and will work to help mobilize public and private financing for reconstruction and recovery, David Lawder wrote for Reuters on August 6, 2020.

The World Bank said in a statement that it “would be also willing to reprogram existing resources and explore additional financing to support rebuilding lives and livelihoods of people impacted by this disaster.”

The bank did not indicate which resources could be diverted to a blast recovery effort. In June, the multilateral development lender announced that it would reallocate $40 million from an existing $120 million health program for Lebanon to help the country fight the coronavirus pandemic. At least 135 people were killed and 5,000 were injured in Tuesday’s explosion at Beirut port, which also left up to 250,000 without homes fit to live in after shockwaves smashed building facades. 

It was also unclear on Wednesday whether the disaster will alter Lebanon’s difficult negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF.) Since May, the IMF and Lebanon have been trying to work out a broader bailout package aimed at stemming a financial crisis that is seen as the biggest threat to the country’s stability since the 1975-90 civil war. Those talks have bogged down amid disagreements over the scale of financial losses in Lebanon’s banking system.